Cladding mold system

ABSTRACT

Improved cladding mold system for use in cladding an elongated metallic rail element and the like wherein special floating guide elements are employed to guide the rail element into, through and then out of the cladding zone as successive portions of the rail element are first passed through the cladding zone and upon completion of the cladding operation are then withdrawn from the cladding zone by means of a common hoist device.

United States Patent Richter et al.

1541 CLADDING MOLD SYSTEM [72] lnventors: Robert K. Richter, Walnut Creek; Jurek Shkredlta, Oakland, both of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation, Oakland, Calif.

[22] Filed: Dec. 1, 1969 21 App1.No.: 881,169

[52] US. Cl. ..164/334, 164/282, 164/86, 164/88,164/136 [51] Int. Cl ..B22d 17/24, B22d 19/00 [58] Field of Search ..164/332, 86, 88, 275, 276, 164/334, 136, 268, 282, 273; 18/DIG.41,13

[56] Reierences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,116,121 12/1963 Brick et al. ..29/187 3,393,727 7/1968 Rys ..164/282 3,015,862 1/1962 Rustemeyer et al ..164/277 2,878,537 3/1959 Brennan ..l64/88 2,395,723 2/ 1946 Chmielewski ..164/252 X 1451 Oct. 31, 1972 3,127,642 4/1964 Zaeytydt ..164/4 2,123,660 7/1938 Pike ..l64/86 2,284,704 6/1942 Welblund et al. ..164/261 1,531,472 3/1925 Baker ..164/275 x 2,847,737 8/1958 Brennan ..164/86 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 56,173 4/1944 Netherlands 1 64/ 275 884,516 4/1943 France ..164/275 Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-V. K. Rising Attorney-Paul E. Calrow, Harold L. Jenkins and John S. Rhoades l5 7 ABSTRACT Improved cladding mold system for use in cladding an elongated metallic rail element and the like wherein special floating guide elements are employed to guide the rail element into, through and then out of the cladding zone as successive portions of the rail element are first passed through the cladding zone and upon completion of the cladding operation are then withdrawn from the cladding zone 'by means of a common hoist device.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDOBI 3 1 [972 I sum 1. or 3 Panzer K. [Pm/4 5 duke/r Sf/KREDKA INVENTORS ATTORNEY PATENTEBnmsrmz 3.701. 380

sum 3 or 3 Faszzr If. IPICHTEK dams/c Snxzeoxn INVENTORS Xfm ATTORNEY CLADDING MOLD SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various devices have been proposed in the past for use as guide elements in the casting or cladding of specialized metal products such as rail elements. Certain of these devices are exemplified in the apparatus .of U. S. Pat. No. 3,015,862 to Rustemeyer et a1. and US. Pat. No. 3,116,121 to Brick et al. These devices, however, were not specially floatingly arranged whereby certain reference planes of a rail element as well as the cladding material cast-in-place about the rail element are maintained atselected angles to each' other as the rail element is guided into and past the cladding zone and also back out of the zone and with the guide elements being out of direct contact with the cladding material during the reciprocatory movement of the rail element. The instant mold system can be used among other things to produce the unique multi-metallic rail element shown and described in copending patent application, Ser. No. 742,586, filed July 5, 1968, of Thomas A. Nowak, now US. Pat. No. 3,544,737 issued Dec. 1, 1970.

SUMMARY OF THE INSTANT INVENTION It is the primary purpose of the instant invention to provide an improved mold assembly having unique floatingly arranged guides that act in conjunction with a common hoisting device for selectively passing an elongated rail element into and then withdrawing the rail element from a metal cladding zone while maintaining certain reference lines in the rail element at all times in substantially the same specially oriented positions relative to one another irrespective of differing tolerances in various portions of the elongated rail element and without damaging or deleteriously affecting the pre-clad and post-clad rail element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic and perspective view with parts broken away of a preferred embodiment of the mold assembly of the instant invention;

F IG. 2 is a cross-sectional view generally taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 with details added;

FIG. 3 is a broken and segmented elevational sectional view generally taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and with parts removed;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 5 with parts broken away and other parts added;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view taken generally along line 5-5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of a slightly modified form of the mold assembly of the instant invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With further reference to the drawings, and particularly FIGS. 1-5 thereof, a preferred form of floating and self-adjusting mold-guide assembly 10 is shown that embodies the teachings of the instant invention. Floating guide assembly 10 can be used for ad vantageously forming a composite rail element 12 useable in an electric railway system and generally made upof an elongated and apertured roll formed steel base component 14 that is lor I-I-shaped in cross-sectional configuration and a highly conductive metal component 16 therefor that is ,castabout the web portions of the base component for the greaterportion of the full length thereof.

Guideassembly 10 is supported on a suitable support framework 18 and a plurality of unique guide devices 22, 24 and 26 are advantageously and selectively disposed relative to each other about the peripheral edge of a rectangularly shaped opening 20 in the framework 18 and adjacent the inlet or top side of an overall continuous casting station 25'. Casting station 25 can be comprised of a pair of cladding dies 28 of the type generally shown and described in the aforesaid Nowak application, Ser. No. 742,586 and arranged in spaced parallel relation to each other. Dies 28 extend into and through opening 20 of framework 18. A slewing or swivel-mounted crane hook 29 is used both for lowering the I-beam 14 downwardly through the guide assembly 10 during cladding of beam 14 as well as for withdrawing the finally clad beam upwardly and extricating the same from the guide assembly upon termination of the cladding operation.

In the fabrication of an electric transit system provided with bimetallic beam element 14 as illustrated in the drawings, it is important that the plane A (see FIGS. 1 and 2) formed by an outer surface of beam cladding material 16, e.g. aluminum, will always be disposed at an angle of to the normal plane B that passes through the reference pointsa and b on a flange 34 of rail 14 when plane A is'projected to intersect plane B and irrespective of any twisting of the web of the beam 14 for substantially the entire length of the rail element 12 during the claddingof rail beam 14.

Maintenance of the same and aforesaid angle between planes A and B at their line of intersection along substantially the entire length of clad beam 14 is important in order to maintain uniform cross-sectional thickness of cast or clad metal 1 6 during casting or cladding. This in turn will mean that a relatively constant cross section of clad material 16 will. exist along the entire length of the rail element, which is necessary, if the finished rail is to have substantially the same electrical current carrying capacity along its entire length. An optimum clad rail element used to carry current should have the same current carrying apparatus at any point along its length.

Maintenance of the planes A and B at right angles to each other during and after the casting operation also requires proper orientation of the rail relative to the mold dies 28 and is important for the further reason that it permits the roll formed rails '14 to have their normal rolling tolerances and still be able to be field assembled with their surfaces aligned and with the aluminum cast sides, in particular, being parallel and aligned so that they can be readily joined together by welding, bolt or rivet means. In short, the finished electrical current carrying rail product demands that certain critical steps be taken during manufacture to guarantee manufacture of a satisfactory current carrying product, etc. The problems presented by such manufacture are advantageously solved by the apparatus of the instant invention.

The composite or bimetallic rail element is usually elongated and can be 50 .to 60 feet long. .In the as-rolled condition elongated rail element 114 can be provided with a pair of flanges 34 and a web 36 extending between and interconnected with the flanges. In roll forming the base component the flanges 34 are each provided with an outer and somewhat curved contact surface 38. The areas 44 of intersection between web 36 and flanges 34 are generously curved and merge with the sloping inner facial lines 40 of the flanges 34.

The web of the base component after being roll formed is provided with a series of uniformly spaced and drilled apertures 46 the centers of which are disposed along the longitudinal axis 48 of the base component as shown in FIGS. 1-3. The curved surfaces 44 and apertures 46 of the base component advantageously facilitate the flow of the molten cladding metal from one side of the web 36 to the other side thereof and within the opposed channel-shaped recesses of the base component 14. Since the specific steps involved in casting, cooling and solidification of material 16 are not significant parts of the instant invention and are discussed in detail in the aforesaid Nowak application Ser. No. 742,586, reference may be made to said application for the details of the casting operation per se.

- Because a rail element 14 is hot rolled from a billet, certain geometrical variations or roll forming tolerances will normally occur along the length of rail 14 as an incident to the rolling operation and take various forms. For example, an intermediate portion of the web of the base component may be slightly smaller width-wise than an end portion by virtue of the metallurgical characteristics of one portion of the billet being different from another portion thereof. A slight twisting or corkscrewing of the web 36 may also take place whereby the center line of web 36 of base component 14 at its intersection with the center line of a flange is other than the desired 90 angle. This is due to the fact that the base component is usually on the order of 50 to 60 feet in length and the web can take slightly irregular helical twists in one or more directions about the longitudinal axis thereof as a result of differential cooling between various portions of the rolled base component.

In any event and irrespective of the variety of geometrical variations that can occur along the length of the base component 14, such as enumerated above, the floating guide assembly of the instant invention substantially or for all practical purposes fully compensates for these geometrical variations, whereby the guide assembly will contact and keep the rail elements 14 in substantially centered and predetermined spaced relation relative to the pair of opposed cladding dies 28 during the advancement of a preclad rail to and through the mold assembly 25 and the subsequent withdrawal of the post-clad rail 14 from and out of the mold assembly and whereby planes A and B of the finished product will retain their desired 90 angularity.

As best shown in FIG. 2, cladding 16 generally takes the form of opposed inserts 50 disposed within the channel-shaped recesses of the base rail component 14 on opposed sides of the web thereof together with a series of reduced rivet portions 52 integrally connected to the inserts and disposed within various apertures 46 along the length of the web of the rail. The thickness of a section of cladding 16 on each side of web 36 is preferably considerably less than the width of a flange 7 section 34 whereby the flanges 34 will extend outwardly beyond plane A on opposite sides of cladding section 16.

The rail 14 is passed into and out of the mold assembly 25 while in contact with guide elements 22, 24 and 26 as follows: The hooked end of a swivel-type hoist device 29 is disposed in the uppermost aperture at the top end of the base component all as indicated in FIG. 1. During operation of hoist device 29, rail 14 will be lowered past dies 28 until all but the uppermost part of the rail is clad. In the final product the upper unclad part of rail 14 can be sheared off without adversely affecting the remainder of the clad rail.

In a preferred embodiment of the instant invention, guide 22 is generally comprised of an upstanding pedestal-like support 53 provided with a top plate 54, a bottom plate 56, and an intermediate column-like web plate 58 extending between and interconnected to plates 54 and 56.

Cap screw assemblies 59 pass through slots in bottom plate 56 and aligned openings in framework 18 to adjustably attach guide 22 to framework 18 adjacent mold cavity 13 all in the manner shown in FIGS. 1-2 and 4-5.

Resiliently mounted upon top plate 54 for biased movement in a direction towards center line C of the overall mold cavity at the casting station 25 is a roller carriage 60. Carriage 60 has parallel spaced grooves 62 of approximately channel-shaped configurations that are disposed on the mold cavity facing side of the carriage all as indicated in FIGS. I-2 and 5. An elliptically shaped opening 64 extends between the top and bottom of carriage 60 and intermediate grooves 62 and its major axis is arranges at right angles to the left side of mold cavities 30 and coincident to the center line C as indicated by dotted line 65 in FIGS. 2 and 4.

A cap-screw 66 having a shank diameter is inserted in opening 64 such that the lower threaded end thereof is threadably connected to upper plate 54. Cap-screw 66 has a shank diameter that is less than the dimension of the major axis of opening 64, thereby providing carriage 60 with a certain amount of limited slidable movement relative to plate 54.

A side of plate 54 is provided with an upstanding boss 68. The shank end of a bolt 70 fits in opening 72 of the boss and the longitudinal center line of opening 72 is substantially aligned with transverse plane of the mold assembly as indicated by dotted line 65 in FIGS. 2-3. Bell-shaped spring washer assemblies 76 are mounted on bolt shank between head 74 of bolt 70 and boss 68. Opening 72 adjacent to and facing carriage 60 can be counterbored to provide a seat for one or more spring washers of the series of spring washer assemblies 76. Spring washer assembly 76 acts to urge or bias bolt head 74 against carriage 60 and carriage 60 towards the left side of molding cavity 30 while being restrained by the stud cap-screw assembly 66.

Mounted on carriage 60 by st'ud shafts 82 are rollers disposed in grooves 62.

Rollers 80 fit into channel-shaped grooves 84 provided in the upwardly facing surface of top plate 54 as well as being arranged in grooves 62 of carriage 60. Grooves 84 in effect can be said to constitute an extension of grooves 62. Grooves 84 are of sufficient depth to clear wheels 80 and of a width greater than the width of grooves 62 whereby wheels 80 and carriage 60 can have limited pivotal movement together about capscrew 66 relative to top plate 54 while carriage 60 is biased by bolt 70 as aforedescribed. The grooves 84 and bolt 70 as aforedescribed act to hold carriage 60 in generally transverse alignment with the left side of the component 14 during advancement of the base component 14 through the mold assembly. If desired, the

i upper edge of carriage 60 on the mold cavity facing side thereof can be cut away and bevelled in an upward and inward direction as indicated at 85 in FIGS. 2 and As indicated particularly in FIGS. l-3, the overall guide assembly includes a pair of additional guide elements 24 disposed in spaced relationship to each other and guide device 22. Since each guide 24 is of a similar construction, a description of one such device will suffree for both. Both guide devices are connected to a common pedestal support 86 made up of bottom and top plates 88 and 90 interconnected by a web plate 92. Plate 92 of support 86 is of shorter length than columnlike plate 58 of support 53 for a reason to be discussed hereinafter. Cap-screws 89 that pass through slotted openings in bottom plate 88 and aligned openings in the framework adjustably affix support 86 to the framework in conventional fashion to the right side of framework 11 adjacent mold cavity in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3. Opposed sidesof top plate 90 are provided with opposed ear-like projections 100 of corresponding configuration.

Each guide device 24 includes a lever arm 102 pivotally mounted on shaft 104 disposed in ear 100 of pedestal support 82 and the upper end of arm 102 carries a roller 106 mounted on stud shaft assembly 108. Roller 106 has a diameter that is substantially greater than the width of the lever arm at the upper end thereof whereby the roller can slidingly engage and roll along selected portions of a longitudinally extending side edge 39 of right flange 34 of a base component during advancement of the base component through the mold assembly as indicated in FIG. 2.

The apertured bottom 112 of arm 102 is keyed to a doubly threaded anchor bolt 110 that extends through web plate 92 and projects from opposite sides thereof. Lever arm 102 is biased against the other or right flange 34 of rail element 14 by means of a series of concave-convex or bell-type spring washers 114 mounted on anchor bolt 110 together with spacer element 116 and lock nut 118 threadably connected to the outer threaded end of stud element 1 10.

' Disposed intermediate guide devices 24 and across from guide devices 22 is a further guide device 26. Device26 which carries rolls 119 is mounted on sup- I port 86 along with guide devices 24.

t The right hand side of top plate 90 facing the right shaped grooves 121 that extend generally upwardly between the top and bottom of upper plate 90. These rolls are mounted on a common stud shaft 123 that extends through aligned openings betweensthe opposite ends of top plate 90 and grooves 121.

The rolls119 are of a sufficient size so as to project beyond theleft side of top plate 90 and rollingly and seatingly engage selected and spaced surface portions of outer contact surface 38.0f right flange 34 of a base component during the advancement of the base component through the mold assembly as shown in FIG. 2. Since rolls 119 are mounted on a fixed support 86,they in effect form a fixed guide device for a rail element 14.

As indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3-4, the common. axis of rolls of first guide device 22 and the individual axis of each roll 106 of second device 24 are all preferably disposed along the same common horizontal plane P disposed transversely of the longitudinal axis C of mold cavity 30. The common axis of rolls 119 of third guide device 26, however, are offset relative to plane P and preferably therebelowas viewed in FIG. 1. Such an offset, however, does not adversely affect the guiding function of the various rolls 80,106, and 1 19.

As indicated in FIG. 2, the opposed and offset rolls 80,106, and 119 generally define a box-shaped guideway or clamping assembly 6 that can approximate the peripheral dimension of any given I-shaped rail element 14 or the like at any point along the length thereof by virtue of adjustment of supports 53 and 86 on the frameworkadjacent the mold cavity for holding the rail element in a selected position relative to dies 28 both during the introduction and withdrawal of beam or rail 14 relative to the overall mold assembly. The shortest distance between the opposed and offset pairs of rolls 80 and 119 is prechosen so that it is somewhat less than the distance between opposed and selected surface portions of outer convex surfaces 38 of the pair of flanges 34 of a given base component at any point along the cross section of the rail :that coincides with plane P.

The aforesaid distance is carefullyselected otherwise deleterious binding of the rail element or base component can occur between rail element 14 and a roll 80 or 119 as the case may be. Such binding of the base component within the mold could result, for instance, by reason of a pair of wheels 80 of first guide device 22 being moved to the left against their bias due to geometrical variations of the base component whereby leftward movement of the pair of rolls 80 causes corresponding leftward movement of carriage 60 until the inner portions of the carriage defining the right end of opening 64 along the major axis thereof abuts the shank of cap-screw 66 as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 5. Abutment of screw 66 with the inner portions of carriage 60 at the right terminal end of opening 64 along the major axis in effect locks the carriage against further leftwardmovement and prevents eventual bind ing of the base component in the mold. This binding would not only halt continuous advancement of component 14 throughthe mold but would also adversely affect proper casting of the molten metal about opposed sidesof the base component between the pair of cladding dies of the mold assembly.

In order to minimize frictional contact between the two pairs of opposed and offset rolls .80 or .119 and selected surface portions of the convex surfaces 38 of opposed flanges 34 of the given base component, the peripheral surfaces of each one of the pair ofrolls8l or 119 of first and third guide devices are advantageously provided with a convex arcuate shape in a direction longitudinally of a roll of either one of the pair of rolls 80 and 1 19 all as indicated in FIG. 2.

Opposed rolls 106 are selectively biased by the proper tightening of nuts 118 on pin 110 whereby the rolls will exert the proper holding or restraining pressure on opposite sides of rail 14 and particularly against a flange thereof. For this purpose, special spacer elements 1 16 and convex spring washers 1 14 can be used. By virtue of the aforesaid arrangement, rolls 106, while exerting a holding pressure, will still not exert binding pressure on rail element 14 during the insertion and withdrawal of the rail from the mold assembly. In effect, this means particularly during the withdrawal of the rail as a clad product from the mold assembly that the roll devices and guides will not adversely affect the cladding or cast material disposed in the channels and across the web of rail element 14.

In the invent biasing of the various rolls 106 is improper, they will either fail to maintain resilient rolling contact with selected surface portions of the right flange of the base component or they will make a binding or overpressure contact that can cause fracture or rupture of the recently cast-in-plaee electrical contact material 16 on the rail element.

By virtue of the novel manner in which all of rolls 80, 106, and 1 19 are arranged, as aforedescribed, they will always follow the exact contour of rail element 14 irrespective of various tolerances of the beam or of a possible helical twist or corkscrew in the web thereof during passage of the beam into, through and out of the mold assembly. This in turn means that irrespective of variations in dimensions or in contour of the rail element, plane A on each cladding component 16 will remain at a substantially right angle relative to plane B that constitutes a plane projected along points a and b in what is to be the top flange in the final clad rail product. In other words, resiliently and biasingly mounted rolls 80 and 106 of first and second guide devices 22 and 24 act to continuously urge the right flange of the rail toward rolls 119 of guide device 26 thereby maintaining the rolls of third guide device 26 in full rolling and seating engagement with selected surface portions of the right flange of the moving rail and at the same time maintaining plane A on each cladding section of clad material 16 at substantially a right angle to plane B on the top flange of the finally clad rail. It also means that the preclad rail, as it is being clad, will be held in the proper selective position relative to cladding die 28.

At this point, a brief discussion of dies 28 is believed to be in order. Opposed cladding dies 28 are of corresponding rectangular cross-sectional configuration and of equal length. A pair of suitable brackets (not shown) are connected to the framework and to cladding dies 28. These brackets adjustably affix the cladding dies to the framework on opposed sides of the mold cavity between first and second guide devices 22 and 24. Dies 28 are arranged to partially project into opposed channel-shaped recesses of a base component 14 during its advancement through the mold, all as shown in FIG. 2. In affixing cladding dies 28 to their respective opposed sides of the mold, opposed inner mold surfaces 122 of dies 28 are set at a predetermineddistance relative to each other throughout their lengths all in accordance with the overall desired depth or thickness of the metal component 16 to be formed between the pair of opposed cladding dies 28.

In selecting the distance between opposed molding surfaces 122 of cladding dies 28 care must be taken that a slight gap X will exist between each corner edge of a die 28 and the adjacent inner surface 40 of an adjoining base component flange 34 during full passage of the base component through the mold all as indicated in FIG. 2. If slight gaps X are not provided for between corner edges 120 of cladding dies 28 and the moving workpiece, a deleterious binding of the base component and cladding dies will occur during movement of the workpiece past the dies.

One of the advantages of gap X is that it allows free passage of the leading portions of the base component or workpiece through the mold while trailing portions of the base component are selectively engaged by the three pairs of rolls 80, 106, and 119 of the three guide devices in the manner aforedescribed. Under most operating conditions, if gap X is held to approximately one sixty-fourth of an inch, satisfactory casting operations can take place.

As indicated by arrows 32 in FIGS. 1 and 4, molten metal is introduced at the top of the left cladding dies of a pair of cladding dies 28 and it is to be understood that an appropriate metal remelt furnace and trough assembly extending between the furnace and the top of each cladding die 28 can be provided for continuously supplying molten metal to the cladding dies. The particular manner in which the molten metal is introduced to the cladding dies does not constitute part of the instant invention. Further information on the same can be obtained by reference to the aforementioned copending patent application of Thomas A. Nowak.

By virtue of the gap X between an inner corner edge 120 of the cladding die 28 and adjacent surface portions of inner surface 40 of a flange 34 of component 14, some molten metal introduced at the top of a cladding die, e.g. the die of FIGS. 1 and 4 may tend to exude through the gap and solidify out of the casting zone during cladding of component 14. This out-ofzone metal solidification, however, will usually not adversely interfere with the normal advancement of the base component through the mold by reason of shrinkage of the exuded metal flow within the gap upon the solidification and cooling thereof. If metal flow through a gap forms an objeetional raised strip portion on the base component, it can be easily removed by an appropriate tool.

In order to effect advancement of the elongated base component at a predetermined rate through the mold assembly of the instant invention, hoist device 29 should be raised and lowered at a desired rate. The hoist device advantageously in swivel mounted so that the guide assembly made up of rolls 80, 106, and 119 will be permitted to take over the complete tracking of rail element 14 into, through, and out of the mold during the reciprocatory movement of the rail element relative to the mold assembly.

. A slightly modified form of an overall mold assembly 10' of the instant invention for forming a composite element of channel-shaped cross-sectional configuration is illustrated in FIG. 6. Overall mold-guide assembly 10' is generally comprised of a plurality of three guide devices 22, 24, and 26 all of which are preferably disposed at the inlet side of the mold-guide assembly for rollingly engaging selective surface portions of a channel-shaped apertured base component 128. One of the pair of opposed cladding dies 28 is freely disposed within the channel-shaped recess of the base component upon advancement of the' base component through the mold so as to effect formation of a claddable metallic component 130 onto certain surface portions of the base component of the channel-shaped recess side thereof as indicated in FIG. 6. Meanwhile, the other one of the pair of cladding dies 28' is disposed in slidable contact with the non-flanged side of web, 132 in order to effect proper formation of the reduced rivet portion of the metallic component within each aperture 136 of the series of longitudinally spaced apertures provided in web 132. Only one of the apertures of the series of apertures is illustrated for the sake of brevity in FIG. 6. As further indicated in FIG. 6, aperture 136 can have a frusto-conical shape so as to facilitate intimate interfacial contact between various opposed surface portions of the base component and the clad metallic component upon casting and solidification thereof within the mold.

Although the three guide devices of the mold assembly of the instant invention have been illustrated in connection with base components of I or channelshaped configuration, the guide devices could be arranged about the mold assembly for engaging base components of other cross sectional configuration such as an X-shaped base component. If the cross-sectional configuration of the base component is other than shown in the various figures of the drawings, it is to be understood that the pair of opposed cladding dies 28 can have other suitable configurations in order to effect proper cladding of a base component of different configuration than shown. Moreover, depending upon the strength of the metallurgical bond between the cladding component and, the base component as well as the ultimate use of the ultimate composite product, the base component may or may not be provided with aforedescribed cladding apertures used to anchor the cladding material to the base element.

The unique mold assembly of the instant invention, can be used to clad I-shaped steel base components of, for example, approximately 60 feet in length having a width on the order of 3%. inches between the flanges, a depth of about 3% inches between opposed longitudinal: side edges, of either one of the pair of flanges, a web thickness of approximately three-sixteenth inches and a flange thickness of about one-fourth inches. The base component can be passed through the mold assembly of the instant invention at a predetermined drop rate on, the order of 21.0 inches/minute. The apertures of the base component can have diameters of approximately 1% incheswhile being arranged on 3 inch centers along the web of the base component.

The shortest distance between the opposed rolls of a pair of rolls 80 and 119 of first and third guide devices can be preset at approximately 3% inches while the shortest distance between, the pair of opposedrolls 106, of second guide device, 24 can be preset at approximately 3% inches in order to insure proper rolling engagement of thethree guide devices with the base component throughout the length thereof. The pair of opposed cladding dies 28 should be spaced relative to eachother to, form a metal component provided with cladding about the. web and wherein the cladding will have an overall depth of about 1% inches and a width of about 3.0 inches. The molten aluminum alloy is preferably introduced into the dies 28 at a rate of about 3.0 lbs/min.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention have been shown and described. It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the appended claims, wherein:

What is claimed is:

1. In a cladding mold system for cladding selected surface portions of an elongated [l-beam rail element and the like, a cladding mold assembly, means disposed at the inlet of said cladding mold assembly for guiding a rail element into through and out of said cladding mold assembly, said means comprising a framework disposed adjacent the inlet of said mold assembly and multiple pairs of individually and selectively mounted guide rolls disposed in opposed and angular relationship to each other on and about said framework so as to form a generally box shaped guideway through which a rail element can be uniformly advanced without binding engagement, one pair of guide rolls being resiliently and biasingly mounted on said framework and located at one side of the guideway, a second pair of guide rolls composed of singular rolls each being separately mounted on said framework at opposite sides of the guideway from each other and in opposed and angular relationship to the first pair of guide rolls mounted at the one and adjacent intersecting side of the guideway, and a third pair of guide rolls being, fixedly mounted on said framework at another side of the guideway in opposed relationship to the first pair of rolls mounted at the one side of the guideway and: also being interposed between and in angular relationship to the second pair of rollsmounted at the opposite and adjacent intersecting sides of the guideway, a swivel mounted crane hook means engageable with the rail element for uniformly advancing said rail element into through and out of the cladding mold assembly and past all of the said pairs of guide rolls along and about the guideway thereof, said first pair of resilientlymounted rolls engaging given surfaces of one flange of the rail element so as to continuously urge certain surfaces of another opposed flange of the rail element into bearing and rolling engagement with said third and fixed pair of rolls as the rail element is uniformly advanced through the cladding mold assembly, said second pair of resiliently mounted singular rolls individually engaging opposed surfaces of the other flange of said rail element and acting in concert with said first pair of resiliently mounted rolls. in engaging the given surfacesof the one flange. to aid in keeping the certain surfaces of the other flange of said. rail element aligned and in contact with the rolls, of said fixed and thirdpair of rolls, saidfirst, pair of rolls in contacting the given surfaces of the one flange ofa rail element and said second and third pairs of rolls in contacting the opposed and certain surfaces of the other flange of the rail element being, kept free, of contact with those portions of the rail element to. which said cladding is to be applied, and said, first pair of rolls by acting in conjunction with said second and third pairs of rolls as all of said rolls simultaneously engage: different flange surfaces of the rail element controls the disposition of the rail element in relationship to the cladding mold assembly so that the plane of the outer surface of the cladding material applied to those surface portions of the rail element will generally continuously parallel the major longitudinal axis of the rail element as the rail element moves through said cladding mold assembly.

2. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said resiliently mounted pairs of rolls are pivotally mounted on said framework.

3. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said rolls comprise idler rolls.

4. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 wherein all of said rolls of said resiliently mounted rolls are also adjustably mounted on the framework.

5. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said first and second pairs of rolls are vertically offset from said fixed pair of rolls.

6. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said first and second pairs of resiliently mounted rolls all lie in a substantially common horizontal plane and are disposed at right angles to each other.

7. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 including means for adjusting the bias of said pairs of resiliently mounted rolls. 

1. In a cladding mold system for cladding selected surface portions of an elongated I-beam rail element and the like, a cladding mold assembly, means disposed at the inlet of said cladding mold assembly for guiding a rail element into through and out of said cladding mold assembly, said means comprising a framework disposed adjacent the inlet of said mold assembly and multiple pairs of individually and selectively mounted guide rolls disposed in opposed and angular relationship to each other on and about said framework so as to form a generally box shaped guideway through which a rail element can be uniformly advanced without binding engagement, one pair of guide rolls being resiliently and biasingly mounted on said framework and located at one side of the guideway, a second pair of guide rolls composed of singular rolls each being separately mounted on said framework at opposite sides of the guideway from each other and in opposed and angular relationship to the first pair of guide rolls mounted at the one and adjacent intersecting side of the guideway, and a third pair of guide rolls being fixedly mounted on said framework at another side of the guideway in opposed relationship to the first pair of rolls mounted at the one side of the guideway and also being interposed between and in angular relationship to the second pair of rolls mounted at the opposite and adjacent intersecting sides of the guideway, a swivel mounted crane hook means engageable with the rail element for uniformly advancing said rail element into through and out of the cladding mold assembly and past all of the said pairs of guide rolls along and about the guideway thereof, said first pair of resiliently mounted rolls engaging given surfaces of one flange of the rail element so as to continuously urge certain surfaces of another opposed flange of the rail element into bearing and rolling engagement with said third and fixed pair of rolls as the rail element is uniformly advanced through the cladding mold assembly, said second pair of resiliently mounted singular rolls individually engaging opposed surfaces of the other flange of said rail element and acting in concert with said first pair of resiliently mounted rolls in engaging the given surfaces of the one flange to aid in keeping the certain surfaces of the other flange of said rail element aligned and in contact with the rolls of said fixed and third pair of rolls, said first pair of rolls in contacting the given surfaces of the one flange of a rail element and said second and third pairs of rolls in contacting the opposed and certain surfaces of the other flange of the rail element being kept free of contact with those portions of the rail element to which said cladding is to be applied, and said first pair of rolls by acting in conjunction with said second and third pairs of rolls as all of said rolls simultaneously engage different flange surfaces of the rail element controls the disposition of the rail element in relationship to the cladding mold assembly so that the plane of the outer surface of the cladding material applied to those surface portions of the rail element will generally continuously parallel the major longitudinal axis of the rail element as the rail element moves through said cladding mold assembly.
 2. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said resiliently mounted pairs of rolls are pivotally mounted on said framework.
 3. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said rolls comprise idler rolls.
 4. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 wherein all of said rolls of said resiliently mounted rolls are also adjustAbly mounted on the framework.
 5. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said first and second pairs of rolls are vertically offset from said fixed pair of rolls.
 6. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 in which said first and second pairs of resiliently mounted rolls all lie in a substantially common horizontal plane and are disposed at right angles to each other.
 7. A cladding mold system as set forth in claim 1 including means for adjusting the bias of said pairs of resiliently mounted rolls. 